Tag Archives: quick

Hello Christmas! My favorite and special holiday that still play magic on me. . . May you never stop searching the skies on Christmas eve!

Food is a big part of the festivities, and why not deck the table with some relish hors d’oeuvres to wow everyone. Go beyond regular and add let your food presentation as well say it’s Christmas time.

At this time of the year, red and green are not just regular colors!

Guacamole tostitos scoops, are a beautiful and festive amuse bouche, to be on your christmas table. It’s always good to have an easy-to-pick-up food that requires no fork or spoon.

You will need:

20 tostitos scoops (tortilla chips)

1 big ripe avocado

1 tsp garlic salt

lemon juice (as per your taste)

diced capsicum for garnish

sour cream optional

A very easy and last minute preparation, no efforts or time needed. All you have to do is to layer the ingredients in the tostitos scoops. Starting with the sour cream, (if you decided to put), then guacamole and finally garnish with the finely diced red capsicum. To make the guacamole, puree the avocado, roughly with a fork, (when it’s really ripe, you don’t need more than a fork to mash it) and mix it with garlic salt and lemon juice. Adjust the ingredients as per your taste, condiments are always subjective.

You will love these bites, and trust me they will disappear in seconds!

I wish you an extraordinary “reveillon” full of delicious food, warmth, blessings, lots of gifts, memories, laughter and love. Chocolate doesn’t come as a wish, i am sure it’s for granted 😉

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Shrimp basil linguine is an ultimate comfort food packed with a symphony of flavors. Whether you like to cook or no, i must say it’s a foolproof recipe, so inviting to hit the kitchen and give it a try. Easy and quick, trust me!

Serving 4, you will need:

800g shrimps cooked and deveined

one medium onion finely diced

2 garlic cloves minced or 1 tsp garlic salt

2 tbsp butter

10-15 cherry tomato

a bunch of fresh basil

500 ml heavy cream

salt to taste

linguine cooked as per pack instructions (enough quantity to serve 4)

Cook the shrimp (boil or oven bake), devein and put it aside.

Cook linguine pasta as per pack instructions, drain and put aside.

In a sauce pan, cook onion and garlic in butter until translucent and fragrant. Add tomato and keep sauteeing for 5 mns, then the basil to cook for another 5 mns. Salt is added as per taste. Finally pour the cream and simmer for 10 mns over low heat.

Serve it on a bed of linguine and enjoy an absolute yummy dish!

For garnish, as you see in the pictures i sprinkled a bit of chives. if you are not a fan of, you can skip this step and it won’t affect the outcome. Isn’t it easy and quick? Try it and give me your suggestions. Bon appetit!

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These colorful rolls bring sweet memories for me, they remind me of my favorite asian restaurant when i used to live in Bahrain, These rolls were on my to cook list for so long. Usually they are called Vietnamese fresh rolls, but since it’s not the classic recipe, i didn’t dare call them so! This is my own version of fresh rolls using a symphony of ingredients that i found going heavenly together.

These effortless rolls are the freshest, nutrient packed, crunchy and sweet while looking fabulously colorful! Finally, having them ready on my plate, these happy rolls added some brightness to my day!

Usually they are served with a Vietnamese peanut sauce made of peanut butter and hoisin sauce which is thinned out with either milk or water, vinegar for a bit of tang, garlic and a touch of chilli. Personally, i prefer the Thai sweet sauce! It’s all up to your taste at the end.

To prepare 15 rolls (one pack) you will need:

1 pack of rice paper (about 15 papers)

500g shrimps cooked and deveined (you can also broil in the oven)

1 medium mango cut a la julienne

1 avocado sliced

4-5 iceberg leaves

a bunch of fresh mint leaves

a bunch of fresh basil leaves

2 medium carrots finely julienned

Take 1 rice paper and place in a shallow plate filled with warm water. Allow rice paper to soften for about 10 seconds. Remove and lay flat on working table – be gentle so you don’t rip the delicate paper. If this is your first time to use this type of paper, you will rip some in the beginning until u get used to 🙂

Start layering all veggies and fruits in the center of rice paper, Start with the lettuce so it holds the other ingredients. On the top part of the rice paper, place 3 shrimps with a mint leaf in between, or avocado to have the final look as per the photo below. Your rice paper rolls should look pretty with the shrimps and mint leaves or avocado on the smooth side of the roll and the seam on the underside of the roll.

Fold the left and right edges of the rice paper in, then starting from the bottom, roll up to cover the lettuce bundle, keep rolling firmly to reach the shrimps. The rice paper is sticky, it will seal itself.

Serve immediately with the dipping sauce. These rolls are to be eaten fresh and on the spot, with time the rice paper gets dry and chewy.

If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog please let me know the result, I love hearing from you!

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In a previous post i mentioned that Fatteh, that levantine dish, varies from one country to other; could be vegetarian or featuring meat, could also have potato or eggplant, but the main ingredients are chickpeas, yogurt and crushed toasted pita.

The arabic word “Fatteh”means “crushed”, so fatteh or fattet hummos has its name after the crushed toasted pita and so other middle eastern dishes with crushed toasted pita like “Fattoush”.

For this version of fatteh with aubergine you will need: (yield two portions)

2 medium aubergine cut in big cubes

3 pitas toasted and crushed in medium pieces

500g yogurt (or two cups)

2 tbsp tahina

1tsp salt

2 cups chickpeas boiled (could be canned)

1 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves crushed

to top with:

50g butter

1/3 cup pine nuts

chopped parsley or mint for garnish

For a healthy option of this dish we will grill the aubergine in the oven after drizzling on top 2 tbsp of olive oil. and set aside

Same goes for the pitas, instead of frying them i will toast in the oven. When ready, put one layer of the toasted bread in a deep dish.

After boiling the chickpeas, or if you are using canned ones, add the garlic (cloves or powder) while it’s still hot, of course after removing its water, put on top of the pitas layer. Now distribute the aubergine evenly on the chickpeas.

To prepare the yogurt sauce, mix it with tahina and salt then pour it on the chickpeas and aubergine.

Fry the pine nuts with butter and drizzle over the yogurt and garnish with finely chopped parsley or mint.

It’s one of my favorite dishes, and as mentioned before, it is a versatile one. You can enjoy it vegetarian or you can add ground beef or chicken. Very easy and quick, using simple available ingredients and hold so much flavors!

If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog please let me know the result, I love hearing from you!

And if you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

The best recipes are the ones calling for few ingredients, done in no time and effortless! Served at anytime of the day is a bonus! I am describing my recipe of today; beetroot and feta cheese tart.

Beetroot, better called “superbeet”, is a round dark red vegetable, sweet, earthy and tender. Whilst beetroot has a sweet taste, its leaves, which also are edible, taste bitter. This vegetable is linked with better stamina, improves blood flow and lowers blood pressure. It was popular in Roman times to treat fever, wounds, skin problems and was used as an aphrodisiac.

If you don’t want fuschia hands, better wear gloves while working with it. No wonder why its color can be extracted and used as a natural food coloring. Try it with eggs at Easter time for a nice vibrant color!

For this recipe there is no exact measurements. You will need to roll out a sheet of puff pastry and cut it in medium squares (around 10x10cm), so it’s depending on how many squares you will make. I made 6 puffs, so i used a sheet of 300g. For that you need:

one medium beetroot boiled, and coarsely shopped into small pieces

180g feta cheese crumbled

2 tbsp thyme

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

egg wash

Heat the oven to 180ºC. Roll the pastry out into six squares as i already mentioned and score a 1cm border around the edge and brush it with egg wash.

Place them on the baking tray, scatter evenly the feta cheese, then the chopped beetroot. Sprinkle on top the thyme and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the pastry is well puffed and golden.

Leave it for 5 minutes to cool down then drizzle the olive oil and two drops (or three maximum) of balsamic vinegar and it’s ready to serve! Alone or with a salad it tastes just delish! If you are not fan of balsamic vinegar you can skip and it will still taste amazing.

I used rocket leaves for garnish, you can also use thyme or any other green leaves you fancy and it’s at hand. Bon appetit!

If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog please let me know the result, I love hearing from you!

And if you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.